Achuthanandan makes surprise visit to slain RMP leader's house

Achuthanandan, who has been at loggerheads with the state CPI-M leadership, reached the slain Revolutionary Marxist Party leader's house near here and spent about 45 minutes consoling Chandrasekharan's mother, wife and son.

Thousands of RMP activists and supporters of Achuthanandan had lined the narrow lane leading to Chandrasekharan's house to have a glimpse of the veteran leader.

The visit comes a day after he slammed the state party leadership and his bete noire Pinarayi Vijayan for finding fault with the media and the police team probing the murder.

The long-running feud between the two leaders flared up a fortnight ago with Achuthanandan unleashing an open attack on Vijayan for dubbing rebels as "renegades".

Slogans hailing Achuthanandan, who is the opposition leader in the state assembly, were raised till he left the house, the first visit by a senior most CPI-M leader after Chandrasekharan was murdered last month.

Achuthanandan also visited the burial spot near the house and offered floral tributes there.

Earlier, Achuthanandan had rushed to Kozhikode cancelling his programmes to pay his last respects to the RMP leader after news of his murder came in. In his condolence message, he had described Chandrasekharan as a 'fearless communist'.

N Venu, RMP Secretary, termed Achuthanandan's visit as an honour."It is the greatest honour', he said.

Chandrasekharan, a former CPI-M leader from the party stronghold of Onchiyam in Kozhikode district, was killed at Vallikkad near Vatakara on May 4. He was expelled a few years ago after falling out with the CPI-M leadership and later floated the Revolutionary Marxist Party.